The seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts dropped to 197,300 units in March.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. attributed the decrease to a slowdown in multiple-unit starts, such as condominiums, which are typically more volatile.

New homes are seen under constuction in Calgary in March. Across the country, the annual pace of housing starts dropped to 197,300 units during the month. (CBC)

"Meantime, single-unit starts continued to rocket higher to 97,700 units in March, the highest level since March 2006," BMO economist Robert Kavcic said. "Activity in this sector is now up 126 per cent from the recession low and, impressively, has seen 11 consecutive monthly gains since bottoming in April last year."

The annual rate of urban starts decreased 4.2 per cent to 175,200 units in March. Rural starts were estimated at a 22,100-unit annual pace.

Urban multiple starts decreased 15.2 per cent to 77,500 units, while single urban starts increased 6.9 per cent to 97,700 units.

There was wide regional variance, as the annualized rate of urban starts increased by 13.5 per cent in Quebec and by 7.3 per cent in the Prairie region, but decreased by 16.3 per cent in British Columbia, by 15.5 per cent in Ontario, and by eight per cent in Atlantic Canada.

Previous figures revised

The agency also revised its previously announced annual rate estimates for January and February.

This resulted in month-over-month gains of 7.5 per cent in January (189,000 units), six per cent in February (200,400 units), and a slight decrease of 1.5 per cent in March.